The Club welcomed Christine - she is an historian, having worked with a number of prestigious publishers, and is a senior member of Wolfson College.

The Club was entertained to a very comprehensive overview of fog, smog and murk in the context of
London over the past three centuries. A number of contributory factors for the generation of the
infamous London Smogs were highlighted. Christine outlined how the geology of the London river
basin in conjunction with a burgeoning population and the burning of coal in the domestic hearth
encouraged fog and smog. She described how crime, poverty and health interacted in the
presence of the famous yellow, dense fog. Christine also went on to say how fogs and smogs
impacted upon how people move about the City, how political and judicial wrangles came to the
surface in attempts to introduce controls on pollution as evidenced by the long drawn-out
acceptance of the Clean Air Act. Christine finally illustrated how the phenomenon of London
Smogs provided mellow fruitfulness for artists, authors and poets.
These topics were woven into a most interesting and entertaining kaleidoscope of information for
us. As a consequence it allowed us to muse on the current situation of atmospheric pollution in
major cities of the world.
It was clear that the Club really enjoyed Christine’s talk.